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“Reading Crumb, and thinking about Crumb … it’s kind of crazy because you realize he’s the first alternative cartoonist, really. And he’s so good that an entire industry forms around him. Where you have people that were not publishers become publishers to publish him with the stuff he was doing in San Francisco. And then all these publishers asking other people to make comics, so they can keep publishing and making money off the back of Crumb’s reputation. Basically they sell a bunch of Crumb comics and then these head shops or records stores or whatever want more and then suddenly you have an entire industry being built up around one guy. And he’s so good – he’s got the craft and skill set of a John Stanley or Carl Barks mixed with this really primal, personal, intense content. So you can’t deny him – he’s the first cartoonist, he’s the best cartoonist – he’s yet to be surpassed I think”.

At first glance, Sammy Harkham’s Wedding Night poster might seem like an exercise in ghoulish violence. The references of blood, urine and spit carry with them a feeling of anxiety and terror but also point to elements of ritual, magik and alchemy.

Creating a sort of “marriage” of elements, the image is also oddly self-referential. Pointing to some of Harkham’s previous early work – the anchor tattoo (from Poor Sailor) bandaged foot (from Typewriter) and the position of the figures is reminiscent of the Golem from Crickets.

Martin: From what I understand, this image was taken from a painting you had done for an exhibition?

Harkham: It was a drawing that grew organically for a show at the Yerba Buena Art Museum with the theme of Werewolves. I started the drawing with the werewolf and nothing else. I had the hand out stretched in a typical monster lurch and was unsure where he was or doing. As I kept drawing I drew a female face under the hand and it started to make sense, it clicked … especially when the tongue part emerged.

As I worked on the drawing over the next couple days each element was clearly defined in my mind. I am not a fine artist, and rarely do stand alone pieces of art, but this was one of those rare drawings that went beyond being a nice drawing, and had a lot of content – at least to me. The anchor tattoo, the rings, the blood, the knife, the placement of her fingers, etc. None of these elements are just there to look good.

Living in it, from my point of view, are ideas and symbolic imagery that address the underlying rapture and violence inherent in a ritual that proceeds to kill the individual and embrace the unity of the new bond. Mythology expert Joseph Campbell puts it as “In marriage you are not sacrificing yourself to the other person, you are sacrificing yourself to the relationship”. How does this all tie in together for you?

Harkham: It was drawn pretty soon after I got married, and it touches on a lot of things about love and lust and commitment I was just discovering (the anchor tattoo is as clear symbol of her commitment to the endurance of love that I could think of) The whole idea that’s interesting about men turning into animals is the idea of the inner self, the true-self emerging outward … I could go on and be more specific, but I rather viewers took from it what they will without my concrete interpretations.

It’s an uncomfortable piece because of its personal nature to me, and I am aware that it can be read in a sexist, violent way, but to me it is romantic and hopeful above all else.